Editorial: Louisiana ranks at top of legislative financial disclosure list

Tuesday

Jun 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 30, 2009 at 1:25 PM

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Louisiana now ranks No. 1 among states in the legislative financial disclosure rankings.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Louisiana now ranks No. 1 among states in the legislative financial disclosure rankings.

The state moved up from 44th on CPI’s list last year.

This is good news.

It is a tribute to the general public for electing a governor who made ethics and legislative reform a major focus. It also speaks highly of Gov. Jindal and the Legislature for moving forward to bring about the ethics changes demanded by the public.

The ranking is also seen as an encouragement to business investment and job creation in the state.

When Louisiana ranked 44th on the CPI list, it received just 43 out of 100 points for financial disclosure laws. With the new ranking it garners 94.5 points.

Businesses planning to invest in an area for the first time place a high quarter on ethics, and the new higher score is certainly an eye-opener.

Earlier, after the ethics session laws went into effect, Louisiana also zoomed up in the Better Government Association BGA-Alper Integrity Index rankings from a bottom five state to a top five ranked state.

The governor said the strong legislative ethics ranking has helped the state win projects that will create more than 32,000 new jobs with a total of $4.3 billion in new capital investment.

He also said the improvement in ethics rankings and the resulting increase in jobs will reduce the outflow of young people who leave Louisiana for better paying work in other states. Just how much remains to be seen, but we believe it will have a positive effect.

Under the Louisiana ethics changes lawmakers are now required to report their outside financial interests - the first time such disclosure has ever been required in Louisiana. The change gives the public a chance to compare legislators’ voting record with their finances.

Louisiana voters are sold on the benefits of ethics reform.

The next step would be to include the governor’s office in the reform loop.

Transparency at the top ought be the next ethics reform goal on Gov. Jindal’s to do list.